A/N: Just couldn't resist posting a chapter on Leap Day - it only comes once every four years, after all! Anyone proposed?

Anyway, hope people are interested/enjoying this story. Unfortunately I haven't got a clue because no one's been kind enough to leave a review. R&R, please? Reviews make me happy! And I suppose Peppy is my OC, if you can count a mythological character as an OC.

LadyCathy. x

ooOoo

Chapter 2: Peppy: God of Darkness and Chaos

Returning to consciousness was by no means a certainty, but return to consciousness he did. All the same, Bakura was pretty sure the conscious world wasn't usually this dark.

He raised one hand to the area which he assumed to be just before his face, only to find that his eyes registered a grand total of zilch.

'By the gods, I've gone blind.'

A wave of panic washed over him at the thought. He couldn't be blind. He needed his sight – a blind thief couldn't work; he'd do better being a blind beggar, at least that way he could get donations for sympathy. But a thief was what he was and he didn't want to change that.

He blinked – he felt the action, so that suggested that his eyes were still present, just not functioning. Unless his brain hadn't registered the loss of his eyes yet and still believed it could feel his eyes blinking – he'd seen that phenomenon before – people who had lost a limb would still be able to feel it even with the limb's absence.

To reassure himself, he moved his raised hand and cautiously probed his face. His fingers felt nothing out of place; he slowly recalled the panic to a more appropriate level; a level which would enable him to think straight at least. So sight was evidently ruled out as an option; he had other senses which had served him well. Touch, for instance. He lowered his hand to the floor, trying to establish what kind of surroundings he was in. His confusion was only intensified when he found he was resting on a smooth, tiled floor. Not the rough, outdoor ground he had been expecting to find.

Light abruptly burst into the surroundings, reassuring Bakura that he wasn't blind at least, but rather that the place had been dark. Still, he had to blink away the initial stars floating round his vision at the abrupt change in brightness, slowly making out the room to be a large, bright hall. At the far end was a golden structure, glittering in the light. Automatically drawn to the promise of something valuable, Bakura approached it slowly.

He stopped.

It was a set of scales. Large, golden scales; on one side a feather rested, on the other a steady beating heart. Bakura felt vaguely sick. He was familiar with this setting, and what it meant.

Being blind was one thing.

Being dead was another.

To make matters worse, a face loomed out of the shadow; all too large and all too real. A smile curved round the face's lips. "Welcome... to the afterlife..."

Bakura stumbled back, one hand instinctively reaching round to draw a weapon – any weapon – from his belt, but none were there. His clothes were normal – although they were dry, which he was a little surprised about – but his weapons were gone. He settled on baring his fists, bringing them between him and the face. "But I can't be dead," he hissed, more to himself than to anyone else. "I have things to do, places to go... things to steal..."

The face loomed for a few seconds more before dissolving away and with the action the room fell into darkness. Shadows sprung up, making the previously bright room into a dimly-lit, cavernous space; it had gained a more threatening air, but shadows were fine. Shadows Bakura could cope with.

Laughter rattled round the room and a body formed itself out of the misty shadows, drawing the shadows closer around it and solidifying.

"Mortals; so scared of death and anything beyond their limited little minds can wrap around. Always good for a laugh though. Their minds get messed around so easily." The form came into the light – or a less-dark patch, anyway – to reveal the owner of the voice was not human.

The torso was human – glittering green eyes, sandy blond hair – but where the legs should have been there was only a snake tail; emerald green in colour and writhing as it brought the individual closer to the thief. The eyes, while a recognisable green, were snake slits, lending an eerie, inhuman air to the face.

Bakura baulked at the creature's appearance; whatever he had been expecting, this had not been it. However, the creature's comment set off a dim hope. "So... where am I exactly?"

"Well, you're not in the Hall of Two Truths, if that's what you're wondering," the individual idly replied.

That gave Bakura some reassurance. If he wasn't in the Hall of Two Truths, then he probably wasn't dead. The Hall of Two Truths was where his life would be judged if he were dead; the lack of aforementioned hall indicated that something else was going on. If it weren't for the half-snake creature standing before him then he would be tempted to call it all a hoax.

However, there was a half-snake creature standing before him and right now it all felt much too real.

"That didn't answer my question. Where am I? And who are you?" He had almost asked what the creature was, but a nagging thought suggested this wouldn't be respectful and therefore not wise. Since he had little knowledge about his situation, he would have to be polite – at least until he had the situation vaguely under his control.

"I am Apep, god of darkness and chaos."

"Right. Okay. And I'm here because...?"

"Because I'm wanting your help."

"And why exactly should I lend my aid to a god of darkness and chaos exactly?" Okay, scrap the politeness plan, Bakura noted; if this god dealt with darkness and chaos then politeness probably wouldn't make much difference. Anyway, he was still standing. That was always a good sign.

"Perhaps because right now you're in my territory and I could be very angry over the death of my leviathan."

"Your what? What, the fish-thing?" Bakura was beginning to get sidetracked as he watched the end of the creature's tail slide a yard away from his own feet. He had had enough experience with tentacles and suchlike to last him a lifetime. Assuming his lifetime would extend somewhere beyond this dark world.

"Yes, the fish-thing." Apep appeared to have noticed Bakura's inattention, because the tail moved away from him. Not far enough for Bakura's liking, but at least far enough to give him warning if it suddenly went for him. "And thanks to you, it's dead."

"Ah, the fish-thing. Yes, well, if you're going to let it run wild, you might at least put a collar on it or something. Or a leash. You know, just so people know it's actually owned by someone. I'm sure if we had known it was owned by a god of darkness and disorder–"

"Chaos."

"Darkness and disorder has alliteration," Bakura offered. "Anyway, Peppy – may I call you Peppy, because Apep sounds too stiff – if you must know, it wasn't me who slew your precious leviathan. If memory serves correctly, I believe it was Prince Atem who was holding the Millennium Puzzle at the time. So I think you've got the wrong human. Now, if you could just drop me off back at my world..."

"I don't think I have the wrong human." Apep approached the thief, and again noticed Bakura's careful watching of the snake tail. Apep grinned – Bakura noted that the teeth were closer akin to a snake's jaw than a human's – and added, "Right, the tail. Humans seem to get pretty hung up with the whole snake thing." He clicked his fingers – thankfully human, although the nails were sharper than what would be expected – and the tail dissolved away. Shadows cloaked the individual and when the shadows lightened, Apep was still standing there, but as a human. He now wore an emerald green suit, the colour matching his still snake-like eyes. "Better?"

"Well, at least it brings you closer to eye level," Bakura muttered, since in his semi-snake form, Apep had been several feet taller than him. The height difference probably could have been increased if less of his tail had been on the floor too.

"I suppose that should reassure you," Apep replied. "Because you don't like feeling small, do you, Bakura? It makes you feel vulnerable, and that's something you can't allow yourself to be."

"What do you need my help for?" he muttered. He didn't like the turn the conversation had taken; his personal life and attitude wasn't something he readily discussed.

"Ah yes, the little job. Well, since I now lack a leviathan, you can take over from the task it was trying to achieve."

"The Puzzle."

"Yes, the Puzzle. Specifically, the Millennium Puzzle." Apep moved beside the thief and placed one arm around the human in what might have been a companionable action; however, Bakura was doing his best not to instinctively throw off the god's hold. "You fetch the Puzzle for me, bring it back, I don't punish you for killing my pet; everyone's happy."

"I didn't kill your fish-thing."

"Pedantics," Apep said, waving the reminder away.

"Well, thanks, but no thanks. I had my own agenda for that Puzzle."

"Oh, selling it on the black market; how unoriginal. Steal the Puzzle for yourself, and the bounty will tide you over nicely for a while yet. Bring me the Puzzle, and I'll grant you whatever wish you want."

Bakura thought this over. "And how do I know you're telling the truth?"

"A god's word is his honour."

"It's easy to make a promise; almost as easy as breaking a promise."

Apep smiled at the thief; Bakura would rather not have been reminded of the fangs Apep had instead of teeth. "A practical mind, I see. Alright." Apep released Bakura's shoulders and moved away, one hand moving to a pocket. Out of the pocket he produced a pendant; it was too large to fit in the pocket, so magic must have been involved. Apep turned it over to Bakura, placing the item in the light. "This is valuable, yes; it's solid gold, but if placed into my shrine, it will bring you here. Well, it will reveal a way to get to my kingdom."

Bakura hesitated, but the call of gold was almost tangible. He brought his fingers round one side of it and brought it closer for inspection. It was rounded, with a triangle around an engraved eye in the middle, and five prongs hanging from the bottom half.

"And how do you know I will keep to my half of the bargain?"

Apep smiled, giving Bakura another view of his fanged jaw. "Call it a gut instinct. But I have kept you. It is time for you to return to your world. Don't forget our little agreement."

Bakura felt an abrupt heaviness in his chest; a beating action as if someone was trying to force his heart to work. He gasped, and at blinking his surroundings began to melt away. The sudden force arrived again, at a quicker pace than before. Again, he gasped and the dark hall had completely faded from his vision. The force bearing down on his chest was clearer than before; now he could make out the feel of a fist beating out a rhythm at his heart.

Blinking once more, a blue sky swam into sight. He could hear voices around him; familiar voices, voices from his gang. He could also feel the fact that he was wet from head to foot and finally his mind registered that, if he was presumed half-drowned, they might be trying to resuscitate him.

As a hand came to cover his nose, Bakura sat up abruptly, instinctively delivering a well-thrown punch at the individual who had been attempting to resuscitate him.

"There are alternative ways to thank a person, you know," Marik commented dryly from the side. He didn't lend a hand to help his comrade, now bruised from the punch. The injured man was lucky Bakura's blow hadn't done worse damage, really.

"I was managing fine before you lot decided to intervene."

"What, dying? Excuse us if we don't want to lose our leader just yet."

Bakura gruffly got to his feet, taking it slowly after a moment's notice, feeling his limbs were still shaky after the earlier incident and not wishing to push himself too hard. "It would be too much to hope for that you had stolen the Puzzle back from the prince, right?" he asked flatly. As if it would be that easy.

"To be fair, we were more worried that our leader had just kicked the bucket," a young boy – Jamil – piqued up. At thirteen, the boy was the youngest there, although the most agile. As the youngest though, he was often left with keeping an eye on the horses. "So what now?"

"Well, it isn't as if we can't make an educated guess where the Puzzle is going. If we hurry now, we could make it to the city by tomorrow evening. What say you? Everyone up for a little visit to the capital?" He grinned when his suggestion was met by agreement. "Right, let's go."

It was only about an hour into their travelling – when Bakura had dried off and the Apep meeting was feeling more like a dream than a reality – that the thief became aware of something around his neck. Moving one hand to his neck, he found a cord; by pulling it upwards, he found the ring to be attached to it.

He dropped the cord, hiding the ring from sight and tried not to visibly react.

'I guess that rules out the dream/delusion theory.'

But that meant it had happened.

That meant he really had struck an agreement with the god of darkness and chaos.

The beginnings of panic threatened to settle in, but Bakura banished it before it could get a solid grounding. He had got out of tight situations and promises before. True, he was dealing with a god, but they could probably be as stupid as the human race at times. He hadn't met a situation he couldn't talk, run or fight his way out yet, and he wasn't about to break that streak.

"Is everything okay?" Rishid brought his horse to the same pace as Bakura's and looked over at the thief king worriedly. Rishid was always one to worry, Bakura noted idly. A good joint second-in-command with Marik, but a worrier all the same. "You've been quiet ever since we fished you out from the river."

"Don't mention fish."

Rishid didn't answer immediately, instead preferring to wait for Bakura to add his own comment. That was another thing Rishid was good at; waiting. Bakura, however, wasn't the patient type.

"Rishid, you know of Apep, right?"

The other man tilted his head to one side, evidently curious as to the dramatic jump in topic. "God of darkness and chaos? I've heard of him. Why do you ask?"

"... No particular reason."

"I hope you won't think I'm prying, but if this some part of a plan of yours..."

"Not exactly." Bakura paused, wondering whether he was going to try to be subtle about breaching his next question. He decided that he didn't have the patience for subtleness today. "Do you know where his shrine is?"

"No. Excuse me for asking, but what has stemmed this sudden interest? It's a little off the beaten track, even for you."

"Even for me?"

Rishid didn't back down from Bakura's replying response and look. "You know what I mean."

"Well, I wouldn't worry if I were you. I'm about to do anything madder than normal."

Rishid grunted to himself. "For some reason, that's not the reassurance I was hoping for."